One popular type of window covering is known as a Roman shade which may also be called a Roman blind, an Austrian shade, a Balloon Shade, or a Soft Shade. This type of shade consists of a panel or sheet of material attached along its top edge to a headrail and gathered at spaced intervals to provide a series of soft transverse folds across the face of the fabric. Consequently, the typical Roman shade has a cascaded or softly pleated appearance. Such Roman shades are usually constructed so that when they are raised from an extended position, they gather from the bottom in generally horizontal folds or pleats until the entire shade resides near the top of the window covering in a retracted position. Often, ballast members such as metal rods or metal bars are positioned within pockets form in the shade material to provide weight to the shade to form the soft transverse folds. The Roman shades are often operated by pulling on various lift cords which are used in conjunction with guides attached to the shade.
In other versions of Roman shades, such as a Roman shade product sold under the AudraGuard name, the shades are operated by pulling on a beaded looped cord of a loop cord drive. Actuation of the loop cord drive causes a shaft or roller to rotate to wind or unwind a plurality of lifting tapes that pass through metal clips or loops attached to the rear face of the shade material and have a terminal end attached to a bottom portion of the shade material. The winding of the lifting tapes causes the shade material to be raised, or retracted. The unwinding of the lifting tapes causes the shade material to lower, or extend.
Most prior art Roman shades have window covering material that is formed either of a sheet of a flexible material such as a fabric or film, a plurality of segments of material connected together, or woven wood. The material or interconnected segments are typically provided with a plurality of horizontal folds at points vertically spaced from one another to form folds when the shade is raised. A common method for making a Roman shade is to sew or attach at least two sets of rings or connectors along vertical lines down the back of the fabric material as is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 1,321,800. The spacing of the rings or connectors affects the aesthetic effect of the shade and how the window covering material may look when being raised or lowered. Lift cords pass through the rings and each lift cord is attached to a bottom rail or the lowermost fold. Opposite ends of the lift cords are wound on a spool or shaft in the headrail. The spool or shaft may be turned by a cord loop device or a spring motor to raise and lower the shade. Alternatively, the lift cords may pass through a cord lock and be moved by a user to turn the spool or shaft.
The shade may also include spacer cords that pass through the rings. The spacer cords are typically attached to the headrail of the shade and the rings and are configured to help improve the aesthetic effect of the shade when the window covering material is raised or lowered. A liner may also be included in such shades. Additionally, Roman shades may be configured as a top down bottom up shade. Roman shades may also have other configurations, such as the configurations disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. D473,743, D468,950, and 7,624,784, 6,988,526, 6,662,845, and 5,787,951 and U.S. Patent Application Publication Nos. 2008/0295975, 2008/0277074, 2007/0175593, 2006/0060308 and 2006/0157204.
Roman shades may be fabricated by fabricators to make a Roman shade in a custom size to fit a customer's window opening. Fabricators may mistakenly measure or determine the necessary length of the window covering material of a Roman shade or the desired positioning of the rings on the back of the window covering material. For instance, a fabricator may want to adjust the position of the rings to achieve a different aesthetic effect for the raising and lowering of window covering material after reviewing the look provided by the initial positioning of the rings. Since rings are often sewn or affixed to the window covering material, such repositioning can be difficult and time consuming. Alternatively, Roman shades may include fastening mechanisms that permit fabricators to more easily adjust the position of the window covering material relative to the lift cords to which the window covering is attached. Examples of such devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,817,399 and 5,566,735.
On occasion, children have been able to get behind a lowered Roman shade and become entangled in one of the lift cords. If the lift cord is around the child's neck and the child falls, the cord could act as a noose and strangle the child. Indeed, reports of such incidents have prompted a major retailer to issue a recall of one product line of Roman shades and the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued a warning about the danger of child entanglement and hanging from the cords in Roman shades.
There have also been incidents of child entanglements in lift cords of venetian blinds and other types of window coverings. As a result, the art has developed various types of child safety devices that are intended to prevent deaths of children who become entangled in lift cords. For instance, U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,318,251, 7,261,138, 7,225,850, 7,117,918, 7,086,446, 7,000,672, 6,948,546, 6,918,425, 6,860,312, 6,637,493, 6,484,787, 6,431,248, 5,630,458, 5,533,559 and 4,909,298 and U.S. Patent Application Publication Nos. 2008/0110581, 2007/0023149 and 2006/0144526 disclose child safety devices for blinds. Child safety devices may be configured to keep the lift cords taught so that the cords cannot be pulled away from the window covering material and form a noose or release the cord from the shade when a child becomes entangled in the shade. Most, if not all of the cord release devices are not well suited for use on Roman shades. Moreover, many conventional child safety devices for window coverings are visible from the front of the shade and detract from the aesthetic effect of the shade.
A new window covering is needed to replace or change a conventional Roman shade design that utilizes exposed lift cords or lifting tape. Preferably, such a window covering can prevent lift cords or lifting tape used for raising and lowering a shade from coming into contact with a small child. Moreover, such a window covering preferably provides the same or a substantially similar aesthetic effect provided by conventional Roman shades while also providing aesthetic advantages to the rear face, or window facing face, of the window covering.